Story : A Class 10 student is giving up on studies, because she knows her mother, a house-help, will not be able to provide for her higher studies. Her mother tries hard and even enrolls her for math tuition but she thinks only children of rich parents become doctors or engineers and believes shell end up being a maid too, like her mother.

The Tamil version of the Hindi film Nil Battey Sannata, Amma Kanakku is a feel-good drama — the kind of film that leaves you with a warm, fuzzy feeling — despite dealing with an important subject: the need to have an ambition in life. It is a well-intentioned film that largely avoids the heavy-handed melodrama that such 'message movies' tend to go for, only succumbing to this pitfall towards the end.

The story revolves around Shanthi (Amala Paul), a single mother who works as a maid and does other odd jobs to make a living and raise her teenaged daughter Abinaya (Yuvalakshmi, adequate). But the girl has preconceived notions on life. She believes that just like a doctor's child growing up to become a doctor, she would grow up to become a maid. She isn't interested in academics because of this attitude of hers. Her worried mother, who wants a better future for her, decides to change her way of thinking by enrolling in the Abi's own class as a student. Does this ploy of Shanthi work?